


You're A Mess, Potter

by Ari_7



Series: Ides of Drarry 2020 [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate title: the one where Ari uses all the tropes, Comfort, Draco Malfoy & Ron Weasley Friendship, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hogwarts Eighth Year, I accidentally orphaned this work, Ice Cream, M/M, No beta we die like fred, Roommates, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a Room, reupload, they try to work it out but old habits die hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:40:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26311288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ari_7/pseuds/Ari_7
Summary: Harry and Draco go back for their 8th year. It does not go as planned.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Series: Ides of Drarry 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1666090
Comments: 3
Kudos: 156





	You're A Mess, Potter

**Author's Note:**

> This is a reupload! I accidentally orphaned this fic, but I'm incredibly proud of it. If you'd like to see the original work, [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24350434) or go to the previous work in this series. This work is part of the 2020 Ides of Drarry fest.

“What did you do?”

Their dormitory was absolutely covered in scorch marks. There was what appeared to be either shaving cream or whipped cream all over the walls, and, to top it all off, Harry himself was sitting on Draco’s bed with a sheepish grin. 

“There’s no way we’re making it to the party on time. Let’s just get this place cleaned up, then you can explain to me whatever story you may have that lead to _this._ ”

~

The two had landed themselves in what seemed to have been the worst-case scenario. After the war, Hermione insisted that Ron and Harry go back to Hogwarts to finish off their seventh year. They had already done six, so why should they leave off the last one.

“Besides,” she had argued, “like it or not Harry, you’re a role model to a pretty significant portion of the population. If not for yourself, do it to spare the tired parents explaining to their kids why they can’t drop out of school like the ‘Great and Wonderful Shining Example Harry Potter.’ Just face it, we’ll ALL be better off this way.” 

Since no one can successfully change Hermione’s mind once she’s made a decision, off to their eighth year they went.

On the contrary, things could not be more different for Draco. The ministry had graciously decided to drop all of his charges. They’d elected that he had no control over his situation and therefore could not be held accountable. He was a good person with awful circumstances. His father, on the other hand, was sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban. His mother was under indefinite house arrest. Draco had spent the entire summer debating whether or not to finish off his education. On one side, his inheritance was enough to grant him, his children, and any grandchildren a luxurious life. However, he wanted to be something more than just a snotty Malfoy-turned-Death Eater whose life ended after things went downhill. It was eventually his mother who pushed him towards going back for the eighth year. Chances were incredibly low that he’d be able to get a job without proper education, and this was the easiest way to do that. “Draco,” his mother had said, “get yourself back to normalcy. Get your life back together and make a name for yourself- one that doesn’t depend on our family’s reputation. You can and will do great things, but only if you work for it. This is your opportunity. Take it, _please_.”

This was the plea that made him finalize his choice. He sent an owl to Headmistress McGonagall, and then he was off.

A few obvious changes had been made to accommodate the extra students. For starters, the castle had grown herself a new tower where the eighth years would have dorms and a common room. There was also an additional table alongside the house tables in the great hall. While they were encouraged to use this table, it was not mandatory and the returning eighth year students were able to use their old house tables during dining and other gatherings. Other than that, McGonagall had been extraordinarily adamant about inter-house unity. Their common room was to be a welcome place for eighth years of all houses. Due to the way the building had recovered herself, each of their dorms would house two randomly assigned students. Because the number of returning students was much smaller than the original population, they were able to attend every class together instead of in the usual two-house block. 

Harry’s worries lied with the dorm aspect of McGonagall’s speech. He’d shared with Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus since they were first years. Having only one other person would take a lot of getting used to. Not to mention, if it truly was assigned randomly, chances were pretty high that none of them would be together. It was even more likely that he’d have to share with someone from another house, and he just wasn’t prepared to make that adjustment. Hermione told him plain and simply that he was “a big boy now,” and that he would have to “just suck it up, because this little change wouldn’t be the end of the world.”

Once all the other students had left the hall, McGonagall walked the eighth years to their tower. She showed them around, gave a quick explanation to reiterate her speech, then left them to their own devices. Of course, they took that opportunity to explore the area, find their rooms, and settle in for the night. Hermione ended up being paired with Pansy Parkinson, a scenario that neither of which seemed to mind. Ron, the lucky bastard, was sharing a room with Neville. Harry himself had climbed to the very top of the tower - just one more staircase and he’d be outside - before finding his dorm. Magically adhered to the door were two name plates stacked one on top of the other. The lower label said Potter, Harry. The upper one read Malfoy, Draco. 

If he was being honest, that’s not the worst outcome he could have had. Obviously their history might make things difficult, but Harry was overall unbothered. So what if he was rooming with Malfoy? After everything that had happened, his only goal was to sit back, relax, and enjoy his last year. For once in his lifetime, he wasn’t being actively hunted by some evil power. Besides, Harry reasoned to himself, it’s not like Malfoy had come out of the war unchanged. He had become a death eater, changed sides, and, in Harry’s eyes, sufficiently paid his dues. Hell, he’d even played a major part in Hogwarts’ repairs. Coming back wouldn’t be easy for any of them. He had no reason to make this any harder.

Ron, on the other hand, took a little while longer to come to terms with this. “Harry!” he exclaimed, “this is Malfoy we’re talking about. Malfoy! Your archnemesis, your ultimate rival! You spent six full years bickering with each other! It’s your thing, Potter vs. Malfoy. You’re gonna let that all go just because you want a ‘chill year’? Mate, I hate to say it, but I think you’ve gone mad.”

Harry stopped his monologue with a sigh and said, “I haven’t gone mad, I’m just glad I no longer have to fear for my life every day. And who knows, maybe Malfoy will be a horrible roommate and we’ll end up bickering anyway.”

“Harry, if anything, you’ll be the awful roommate,” he scoffed. “I should know, I spent seven years with you. For once I might not have to wake up smelling your dirty sock scent through the air. Merlin knows you’ve never been good at scourgify charms.”

“Thanks mate, love you too.”

The first few weeks of class had gone more or less as expected. Harry did his best to keep to himself and Draco did the same. Sure there was bickering at times, but it had overall scaled down from previous years. Instead of the stalkerish watching and picking at one another every chance they got, it was more of the natural, friendly banter that any pair of roommates would have. They spoke occasionally about mundane topics and Draco actually found himself enjoying the other’s company. He might even go so far as to call them acquaintances, since “friends” seemed like too far a stretch. They certainly weren’t at each other's throats like he’d predicted when he first saw their room assignments. 

Over the course of the term, Draco began to break down the walls he had put up. Nightmares led to deep conversations at 2 in the morning. Between their childhoods, Harry nearly being sorted into Slytherin, Draco making friends with his family’s house elves, and a mutual want to have a normal life post-war, it didn’t take much for them to realize that they were very similar indeed. When either of their nightmares were too much to handle, they always had someone to wake them. At first they only walked over to the other’s bed, shook them awake, and went back to sleep. After being woken from a particularly bad nightmare, Draco pulled Harry onto his bed for a hug. They sat there in an embrace until Draco eventually pulled away and lifted his covers, beckoning Harry to crawl underneath with him. 

They awoke the next morning tangled together. Harry’s head was tucked against Draco’s chest, arms wrapped around each other. Neither would admit it at the time, but it was the best night’s sleep they had gotten in far too long.

After this, Hermione (happily) and Ron (regretfully) welcomed Draco into their friend group. They hung out in the common room together, Ron usually beating Harry at wizard’s chess while Draco and Hermione “talked about nerd stuff,” as Ron would so eloquently put it. The four of them got along rather well once Ron and Draco finally put aside their differences. Harry and Draco had become far closer than anyone had expected, to the point where bed sharing was a regular thing.

~

When it came time for Hogsmeade weekends, Draco was invited to tag along with them. He usually did, but this time he stayed behind to finish up some work in the library. He had nearly finished his potions essay when he received Harry’s patronus informing him that he “may want to avoid their dormitory for the foreseeable future.” Draco, of course, immediately packed up his belongings and made his way to the eighth year tower. What he arrived to was an absolute mess, with a white, foamy substance covering every surface and walls that looked as though a phoenix had recently and somewhat explosively reincarnated. It certainly didn’t help that Harry was sitting on his bed, looking ashamed as ever. 

“Alright, what happened?” he asked as they both began to clean the mess.

“Do you want the long version or the short version?”

“Short version first, then long version when I realize how ridiculous your story is going to be.”

“Got it. Short version: Ice cream, failed attempts at spell creation.”

“...oooookay, now the long version, I suppose?”

“The charms project for this past month has been to try to make up a new spell that does whatever you want it to, right?”

Draco nodded.

“Well, since Hermione refused to help either of us, Ron and I decided to pair together to make a spell that perfectly adds whipped cream to your ice cream. Obviously,” he paused, gesturing to the room around them, “we were unsuccessful. Complete failure. We managed to actually blow up the ice cream cone. There was fire on the wall, on the floor, everywhere. Ron, for whatever reason, decided it was a good idea to touch the flame. That was when we realized that it wasn’t actually hot and that the scorch marks are purely visual. Once you cast a scourgify, they’re entirely gone. Good news is, we do actually have a spell to present in charms. It’s just not the one we were going for.”

“Bloody Gryffindors,” Draco muttered. “While I’m glad you- _neither_ of you were harmed in the process, I hope you know I am not letting you sleep in my bed tonight, nightmares be damned.”

Harry pouted at him, giving the best puppy eyes he could muster.

“Hey, don’t give me that look! Next time, don’t make a mess.”

That night, Draco slept in Harry’s bed instead.


End file.
